Frontlist | SC denies contempt case against Rajdeep Sardesai

on Feb 17, 2021

SC website had shown Tuesday that the court would take up a petition that sought action against Sardesai for tweets about the judgment last year in the Prashant Bhushan contempt case.

Hours after the Supreme Court website showed that it had initiated a suo-motu criminal contempt case against senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, the top court registry Tuesday issued a denial. The status shown on the website had been placed “inadvertently”, it said, adding that “appropriate action to rectify the same is under process”.

The website had shown Tuesday that the court would take up a petition that sought action against Sardesai for tweets about the top court’s judgment last year in the

Prashant Bhushan contempt case

The petition was filed by a Noida-based law student named Aastha Khurana, who had moved the top court in September 2020.

Khurana filed a petition directly before the top court after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal refused to grant his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Sardesai.

She had submitted her representation to Venugopal, as required under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act and Rule 3 of Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of Supreme Court.

Khurana’s lawyer, Omprakash Parihar, told that she took the step to approach the court directly under the rules of the apex court. After the court issued a denial, he said it was an “unexplainable mistake”. ”If it’s a mistake, then it’s an extremely unexplainable mistake by the SC registry,” he added.